Covered buckle and parts thereof



June 30, 1953 H, KOEHL ETAL COVERED BUCKLE AND PARTS THEREOF 3Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed June 20, 1950 INVENTORS' HERMAN KOEHL HANS .PRYM

b i THEiR ATTORNEY 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 H. KOEHL ET AL COVERED BUCKLE ANDPARTS THEREOF June 30, 1953 Filed June 20, 1950 INVENTORS HANS PRYM L HE O K N A M R E H vvvvvvvvvhfilvvvvvvvB THEIR AT ORNEYSAAAAAAQQAA/AAAAAAAA June 30, 1953 KOEHL ETAL 2,643,430

COVERED BUCKLE AND PARTS THEREOF Filed June 20, 1950 3 Sheets-Sheet 3fivvvvvvvvvvvvvvv v m\ 4 F 4 I D 1 1 r 1' |0 4 q 4/0 10 1 D 4 4 b 4 b QbbAflAAAAkAbfabAAAAy INVENTORS' HERMAN KOEHL HANS PRYM THEIR ATTORNEYJSPatented June 30, 1953 COVERED BUCKLE AND PARTS THEREOF Herman Koch],Danielson, and Hans A. Prym,

Woodstock, Conn, assignors to C. E. M. Company, Killingly, Conn.

Application June 20, 1950, Serial No. 169,192

3 Claims. 1

Our invention relates to parts for assembling covered buckles. Moreparticularly, it concerns means whereby such parts can readily beassembled and covered with covering material without the use of toolsand without requiring special skill. The present application is acontinuationin-part of our copending application Serial No. 103,400,filed July 7, 1949 (now U. S. Patent No. 2,513,182, dated June 27,1950). It is directed specifically to covered buckle assemblies andincludes some further developments and improvements on the commonsubject matter contained in said parent case.

The covering of buckles with various covering materials, such as fabricsand leather, in order to make such buckles match or complement theappearance of the clothing with which they are worn, has generally beenentrusted to specialty shops. This is because special tools and somedegree of skill and experience was required to assemble such coveredbuckles, when employing the parts heretofore available. Buckle partswere also known that could be covered with fabrics by means ofadhesives, but such adhesives are difficult to work with and most ofthem are not fast to water, so that the fabric covering is likely tobecome loose in the presence of moisture.

The principal object of our present invention is to provide parts forbuckles that can readily be covered and assembled without the need forspecial tools, experience or skill. A further object is to provide meanswhereby the covering material is firmly held under all normalconditions, but can easily be replaced, if desired. The foregoingobjects and others that will become apparent as the particulardescription proceeds, are accomplished primarily by the provision of asuitably shaped hollow form piece having integral means for holding thecovering material thereon. These form pieces are preferably stamped outof sheet metal and include an opening at the back, which is lined withbent-in teeth for holding the covering material and permitting it to bestretched over the outer surface of the form piece. In our parentapplication Serial No. 103,400 (now U. S. Patent No. 2,513,182), we haveshown several such form pieces having bent-in rims on which inwardlypointed teeth are based. Experience has shown that it is preferable toomit such bentin rim and to base the bent-in teeth directly on the outeredges of the form piece; This affords the maximum sized back opening anddoes not require the teeth to be turned in as far, thus facilitating thecovering of the form piece.

As described in our parent case, we provide a closure member for theback of the form piece, which serves to secure the covering material onthe latter and gives the assembled buckle a finished appearance. Whilethe usual crossbar may be attached to the form piece as shown in ourparent case, we find it simpler to attach such cross piece to theclosure member, so that it cannot interfere with the covering of theform piece.

Reference is made to the accompanying drawings, illustrating a preferredembodiment of the present invention and showing how the various partscan be assembled. Obviously our invention is not limited to the detailsshown therein. In these drawings:

Fig. 1 is a back view of a hollow sheet metal form piece according tothe invention.

Fig. 2 is a section of the form piece along the line 22 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a back View of a suitable closure memher for the form piece ofFigs. 1 and 2.

Fig. 4 is a section of such closure member along the line 4-4 of Fig. 3.

Figs. 5 to 12, inclusive, show progressively in back views and sectionsvarious stages in the covering and assembling of a finished buckle usingthe form piece and closure member shown in the preceding figures. Thesections shown in Figs. 6 8, 10 and 12 are indicated by thecorrespondingly numbered lines of Figs. 5, 7, 9 and 11, respectively.

Referring now in more detail to these drawings, the back edges l and 3of the rectangular, hollow sheet metal form piece are provided withbent-in teeth 2 and 4, respectively. When referring to bent-in teeth 2on the inner edge I, we mean that such teeth are bent towards the teeth4 linin the outer edge 3, i. e., they are bent into the back opening ofthe hollow space enclosed by the form p1ece.

As may best be seen in Fig. 2, the inner edge I does not protrude quiteas far as the outer edge 3, thus further enlarging the opening, althoughboth edges may protrude equally or the inner edge may protrude furtherthan the outer edge, if desired. The bent-in teeth 2 and 4 are showndirected substantially toward each other. They may, if desired, beturned more or less sharply inward, although the position shown seems tobe the most practical and effective. It should be noted that the teeth 2on the inner edge I have been omitted at the corners. This facilitatesthe covering as will be explained hereafter.

The preferred closure member is shown separately in Figs. 3 and 4. It islikewise made of sheet metal and includes an arched front or frame 5with outwardly turned edges 6 and I. The crossbar 8 is formed. byrolling a portion of the sheet metal into cylindrical form. The corners9 of the inner turned out edge 6 are widened, as shown, and serve tocover the corresponding corners of the form .piece where the teeth 2have been omitted. A further advantage of thus widening the innercorners 9 of the closure member is that they narrow'the openings in thebuckle frame and thus help to rip thebelt passing therethrough morefirmly. .The turned out edges 6 and I of the closure member are sodimensioned as to fit beneath the bent-in teeth 2 and 4 of the formpiece, while permitting the widened inner corners 9 to rest upon thecorresponding corners of the form piece.

The preferred method of covering and assembling our buckle parts willnow be described with reference to Figs. 5 to l2, inclusive. The firststep is to hook one end of a suitably shaped piece of covering materialit on the bent-in teeth 4 at the corresponding portion of the outer edge3 of the form piece. The covering material I is then stretched tightlyover the entire form piece and is hooked into the remaining teeth 4 ofthe outer edge 3, thusforming the assembly shown in Figs. 5 and 6.

The next step is to cut a hole in the center of the covering material,preferably by making diagonal incisions I2 as shown in Fig. 7. Thetriangular flaps thus produced are trimmed by cutting off their pointsto form the tabs H. The results of this step are shown in Figs. 7 and 8.

The inner tabs II are now drawn firmly over the inner edges l of theform piece and hooked over the bent-in teeth 2 based thereon. It will benoted that the corners of the inner edge are not wholly covered. Thusthe covering material is firmly, but releasably, held over the frame ofthe form piece as shown in Figs. 9 and 10.

The final step in the assembly of the covered buckle is to insert theclosure member into the back opening of the covered form piece. This isdone by forcing the outwardly turned edges 6 and l of the closure memberpast the exposed points of the bent-in teeth 2 and 4 .of the form piece.This can readily be accomplished due to the resiliency of the bent-inteeth and of the outwardly turned edges, which is'increased by thearched cross section of both the form piece and the closure member. Oncethe outwardly turned edges of the closure member have been forced pastthe bent-in teeth of the form piece, these parts are firmly held in thefully assembled relationship shown in Figs. 11 and 12. The widened innercorners 9 of the closure member not only serve to cover the bare innercorners of the form piece, but they also serve to limit the depth towhich the closure member may be inserted into the back opening of thecovered form piece. The same limiting function is also performed by thecrossbar 8 0n the closure member.

Obviously, the covering material is firmly looked over the form piece inthe fully assembled buckle of Figs. 11 and 12. There is no danger thatit can slip off the bent-in teeth of the form piece and thus becomeloose. However, if it is desired to replace the covering material thebuckle can readily be disassembled by inserting a pointed tool betweenthe covered form piece and the closure member, and prying them apart.Again the resilience of the cooperating portions of the form piece andclosure member makes this possible.

The buckle parts described above thus make it possible for the housewifeor seamstress to apply any desired covering material and to producefully assembled, covered buckles having an attractive finishedappearance in the home without the use of any special tools. Noparticular skill or experience is required to carry out the method ofassembly herein described. This constitutes a great convenience and. asubstantial 4 saving, particularly in localities where specialty shopswith the necessary equipment for assembling the prior art buckle partsare not available.

Our invention is by no means limited to the foregoing details. Manypossible modifications will immediately be apparent to those skilled inthe art. Thus the shape of the finished buckle may be varied almost atwill. The buckle may be circular as in one of the embodiments shown inour aforesaid parent application. Considerable variation in the form andstructure of the closure member is possible. It may be formed of asimple washer-like piece of compressible material, as suggested in theparent application, although in that case it is preferable to have thecrossbar an integral part of the form piece. The novel principles of ourinvention may be applied to brooches and buckle-like buttons, as well asother equivalent devices, that one may wish to cover partly or whollywith a suitable covering material.

As many apparently widely different embodiments of this invention may bemade without departing from the spirit and scope hereof, it is to beunderstood that this invention is not limited to the specificembodiments hereof except as defined in the appended claims.

We claim:

1. A form piece for a buckle, said form piece having a hollow frameportion with rearwardly extending inner and outer edges on which arebased pointed teeth that are bent in substantially towards each other atthe back opening of the hollow frame and wherein one of the edgesextends rearwardly somewhat further than the other.

2. A buckle assembly comprising a form piece having a hollow frameportion with rearwardly extending inner and outer edges on which arebased pointed teeth that are bent in substantially toward each other atthe back opening of the hollow frame, and a correspondingly shapedclosure member including an integral crossbar and an arched frameportion with outwardly turned edges that are caught behind the points ofthe bent-in teeth of the form piece.

3. A buckle assembly comprising a form piece having a substantiallyrectangular, hollow frame portion with rearwardly extending inner andouter edges on which are based pointed teeth that are bent-insubstantially towards each other at the back opening of the hollowframe, the inner edge being devoid of teeth at its corners, and acorrespondingly shaped closure member including an integral crossbar andan arched frame portion with outwardly turned edges that are caughtbehind the points of the bent-in teeth of the form piece, except forwidened portions at the inner corners which abut the toothless inneredge corner portions of the form piece.

HERMAN KOEHL. HANS A. PRYM.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS

